Short term rental website impacts Pacific Grove inns

Short term rental websites like Airbnb.com give local homeowners the opportunity to rent out private rooms or entire homes to tourists on the Central Coast.

Pacific Grove inn owner Amrish Patel said the lack of regulation on sales tax for these rentals can create an unfair advantage.

"It's not fair that we're being taxed and they're not," Patel said. "But I don't know how you can enforce that."

The city of Pacific Grove prohibits renting out private rooms, but does allow homeowners to rent out their whole house if they get a transient use license. KSBW searched for rentals in the Pacific Grove area and found more than 150 renters listing private bedrooms for rent.

Monterey County tax collector Mary Zeeb said neighbors call in to report illegal renting but that her staff does not have the time or resources to check whether each renter paid sales tax on the revenue.

"It would be nearly impossible to make sure every single person is paying their fair share of the tax," Zeeb said. "We do the best we can, we don't have any dedicated staff members available to do it."

Zeeb said Monterey County is working on a revised ordinance to better enforce sales tax for private rentals through websites like Airbnb.

Around the state, cities are creating new regulations in order to better check private rentals. In San Francisco, the city prohibits rentals of less than 30 days.